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 | This page in a nutshell: Regardless of the age of a relatively younger candidate for adminship, the real question is "are they mature enough to be an admin?" Debates about ageism are a straw man tactic that distract us from this real question. |
Often at requests for adminship, the age of a candidate comes into play. This is almost exclusively the case when dealing with a potential administrator who is not yet 18, but it has sometimes been applied to users under the age of 16 or as old as 25. Many people believe that people who are younger are more prone to being immature and base their decision to oppose based solely upon this fact. This position has led to endless debates with one side crying foul and the other side pointing to an endless stream of evidence connecting age to maturity. While scientific, cultural, historical and anecdotal evidence indicates that minors generally lack the maturity of adults, this evidence only speaks to the populations as a whole. What studies about populations cannot tell us, however, are the attributes of specific individuals. In other words, while research can tell us about characteristics of teenagers as a whole, they do not speak towards the characteristics of specific teenagers.
One of the keys in winning a debate is to be the one who defines the terms of the debate. By allowing the focus to be on the age of the candidate, many people end up arguing a debate they cannot win. Rather than focus on age, the debate should center around the individual's maturity. Does the individual possess the maturity/responsibility to do the job? Are they the exception?